What Happened To The World I Used To Know? -hiatus-
by noordinarykilljoy
Summary: Alexandra (Alex) Grimes is Rick and Lori Grimes first born and Carl's older sister. She is now 20 years old and a student. But when she gets an awful phone-call from her mother saying her father got shot on the job she rushes back to Georgia to be at her family's side as they await her dad's awakening. However, shit starts hitting the fan and all of a sudden the dead starts walking
1. Prologue

-This is my first fan fiction and probably my last. I'm not so good on these sort of things but thought I would try. I sadly do not own The Walking Dead or its characters. The only thing in this story I own is Alexandra and a few happenings.-

* * *

 **Prologue - Before The Dead Rising**

* * *

I focused on my target while holding the barrel towards it. It somehow felt like the can about twenty feet away was taunting me, provoking me as if I wouldn't hit it. I focused even harder on it, while giving it stinky eye. And just when I was going to pull the trigger, a voice interrupted by calling my name. I accidentally pulled the trigger and I missed the can by an inch.

"Crap!" I cursed silently at it as I lowered my gun from it.

"Alex!" the voice called on me again. I turned around and saw a guy running at me. I squinted my eyes to see better from the blinding sun. I saw that it was Philip, one of my friends here at the police school.

"What's up, Phil?" I asked him when he had reached me and stopped running. He held out his hand with my phone in it.

"Your mom's on the phone," he sighed when he saw my confused face. "It's your dad…" I quickly grabbed the phone and tried to hear my mom talking through soft sobs.

"Mom? What's wrong?" I asked worried as hell. She sniffled again, trying to compose herself from saying the next thing.

"Your dad… H-he… Got shot…" she said in-between now hard sobs. I kept quiet as I only listened to what my mother was telling me, but also 'cause I tried to figure out what she was saying most of the time. "He's at the hospital, in a coma," she said as clear as crystal and my eyes widened. I now saw how serious this whole thing was.

"O-okay, mom. Don't worry, alright? I'm coming home," I said quickly, hung up and ran towards my room to pack my stuff and go back home to Georgia.

* * *

I knocked softly on the front door, hoping my family would hear it. The door soon opened and I stared straight forward, seeing nobody until a small figure embraces me in a hug. I saw that it was my little brother and I quickly hugged back.

"Hiya, champ. How's it going?" I asked him quietly. He didn't answer however, and I could understand why. "Carl," I said to him. "Look at me." And he did. He looked up at me with tears running down his little puffed cheeks. "It's gonna be okay, you know that right? Dad's tough as rocks. He'll pull through," I told him softly as I tuck his hair away from his face. He just nodded frantically as more tears come and he pulled a sad face. "Come 'ere," I said and pulled him into my arms again.

"Carl?" a voice inside the house called, and I knew it was my mom. "Who was at the do-" she stopped mid-sentence as she came out of the living room and into the hall where me and Carl hugged tightly. I looked up at her and separated Carl from me.

"Hi, mom," I greeted her. She seemed to be confused at first but then ran towards me and pulled me into a big bear hug as she again started to cry.

"My baby's home…" she mumbled into my hair to herself and kissed my head. "You're home," she said as she pulled away. I just smiled sadly at her.

"And I ain't going away for a while," I reassured her before pulling her into another hug. Right before I was going to pull away another figure walked into the hall from the living room. I looked up and saw it to be Shane. I gave him a quick nod of hello as he did the same.

"Well, I guess we oughta be going. Won't be much time yet," he said to the three of us.

"Going where?" I asked them

"To see dad," Carl answered from my right. I nodded at him while I took his hand and he walked me outside to the car. And that, everyone, was the last day the world would be normal…

* * *

-Crappy freaking prologue, I know… But I just thought that this was like "the best way" to begin it all. But it didn't turn out like I wanted it to, so yeah. Screw it.-


	2. Days Gone Bye

Days Gone Bye

* * *

I woke up after the dream of how things were just two months ago. It just seemed so simple back then somehow. I sat up in my tent, put on new clothes and my boots before walking out to the rest of the group. As soon I had stretched out my legs and arms my mom came up to me saying good morning.

"How'd you sleep?" she asked while tucking a piece of her dark hair behind her ear.

"Um… Fine, just had the same dream again…" I answered. She looked concerned, thinking deep or something. As she opened her mouth to say something she got interrupted by Glenn coming over to me to say something.

"Hey, Alex. Lori," he greeted the both of us and we nodded as a hello. "I was just thinking, a few of us are going into the city and get some supplies. You wanna come?" he directed the question to me. I glanced at my mother as to ask permission, but she just shrugged her shoulders.

"Who else is coming?" I asked back.

"Um… Andrea, Morales, Jacqui, Merle, T-Dog," I interrupted him.

"Whoa, wait. Merle? Count me out, dude," I told him. He stared at me with slightly pleading eyes.

"Wha- Why?" he just asked confusingly.

"'Cause I ain't going anywhere near Merle. Honestly, I want nothing to do with that crackhead-"

"Alex!" my mom warned me. I rolled my eyes and looked back at Glenn.

"Sorry, Glenn. Maybe another time," I said and walked past him towards the RV where Dale was sitting on the roof, looking over the place. I greeted him with a nod and he did the same adding a smile. I soon got to where I wanted, which was by our car where Carl sat down by talking and playing with a girl named Sophia and her mom, Carol, standing by them watching with a slight smile. "Morning, Carol," I said politely to her.

"Morning," she smiled back.

"Hey, Alex," my brother stole my attention by calling on me. "Look what me and Sophia made!" he exclaimed in victory as he held out what seemed to be a doll made out of wooden sticks. I chuckled at the children while I crouched down in their level and took gently ahold of the doll in my hands.

"Wow, no way you two made this. It looks like a bought item from the store," I teased them.

"Nu-huh, Sophia and I made it by ourselves," Carl defended with arms crossed and a pout on his face. I could hear Carol softly giggling behind me as I kept teasing the two kids.

"No way, I don't believe you." Now Carl tried really hard to get the doll out of my hands, but I kept it out of reached until I fell backwards on my back. Carl jumped up on my stomach and held me down.

"Sophia! Get the doll, I got her!" Carl told his friend as he started to tickle me. I laughed so much that it hurt as Sophia crawled over to my hand and took the doll.

"No!" I yelled out defeated as Carl got off of me and the two kids started to jump around in happiness. I chuckled at their behavior as Carol came over to me and helped me up from the ground. "Thanks," I smiled at her and she smiled back.

* * *

The rest of the day went by as it normally did. Everybody was occupied with something. Most of the time I was with Carl, Sophia and Carol and sometimes I was helping out Jim and Dale with the RV. Right now though, I was just relaxing talking to Dale and this other lady I had forgotten the name of. We however got interrupted by the police radio that Shane had brought with him sending out a robotic voice and statics.

 _"Hello? Hel-…Can anybody hear my voice?"_ somebody male said on the police radio. Amy ran over, dropping a few sticks while she did, and tried to talk to the man on the radio.

"Hey! Hello?!" she said to the microphone.

 _"-Hear my voice-"_ the static voice said.

"Yes, I can hear you, you're coming through, over," Amy said.

 _"If anybody hears, please respond."_ the voice didn't seem to hear Amy as he spoke.

"I don't think he can hear you," I told Amy. She looked over at me with worried eyes but got back to the radio.

 _"-will be approaching Atlanta on highway 85-"_

"Shit…" I said to myself quietly.

"We're just outside the city," Amy kept going into the microphone but only statics came through as an answer. "Damnit. Hello? Hello?!" she sighed. She turned to me and Dale as she spoke. "He couldn't hear me, I couldn't warn him," she told us.

"Try to reach him again," Dale told her. Amy picked up the microphone again and tried different channels but nothing helped. "Come on, son. You know best how to work this thing," Dale told Shane as he came over. Shane dropped his axe on a tree stub and took the microphone out of Amy's hands.

"Hello, hello? Is the person who called still on air?" he asked into it and waited for a response. "This is officer Shane Walsh broadcasting to person unknown, please respond," he said but statics was all that came through on our side. I stood still by my family, biting on my nails. Shane gave up and but the microphone down as he sighed. "He's gone," he told us all. I sighed as well as I ran a hand through my hair.

"There are others, it's not just us," mom said as she shrugged her shoulders. I took Carl by his shoulders and led him to me. He looked up at me as he hugged my side.

"We knew it would be, right? That's why we let the CB on," Shane said.

"Lot of good it's been doing," mom said quite sarcastically. "I've been saying for a week, we gotta put signs up on 85 to warn people away from the city," she was right.

"Folks got no idea what they're getting into," Amy spoke, agreeing with my mom.

"We hadn't had time," Shane told them as he got up from the ground.

"I think we need to _make_ time," I spoke up just as Shane was about to leave. Shane rubbed his chin as he turned back to us.

"That's, uuh… That's a luxury we can't afford," he simply said and put his hands on his hips. "We are surviving here, we are day to day."

"Who the hell would you propose we send?" Dale asked us all. I put up a hand in the air to show I was willing to.

"I'll go," I said. Mom turned to me with shocking eyes and shook her head.

"No, I'll go. Give me a vehicle," she said slightly forcefully now towards Shane.

"Nobody goes away alone, you know that," Shane spoke to her and rubbed his head slightly, then looked up at her. Mom nodded and walked away.

"Yes, sir," she said as she walked. Carl ran after her, getting out of my grip, but Shane stopped him from going any further.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey," Shane said to him. "Go and take a seat with your sister, bud. Alright. Go on. It's alright," he told him and Carl complied as Shane walked after my mom.

"It's okay," I told my brother once he sat down on a log next to me.

"So you trust him?" Carl asked me. I shrugged while I leaned closer to him so only he could hear.

"Not really, but mom does. And we trust mom, right?" I asked and nudged his shoulder. He smiled up at me and nodded like the excited little kid he was. I giggled at him and ruffled his hair. "I'm gonna go help out Carol with the laundry, alright. You stay right here," I told him and he was just about to speak but I stopped him. "Nope. Carl. For just once, please do as you're told," I pleaded. He looked at the ground as he nodded.

"Yes, ma'am…" he mumbled. I got up and went straight to Carol and helped her put up the newly washed clothes on a line for them to dry. Once I had put up the first shirt I looked back to watch Carl, but he wasn't there anymore.

"Goddamnit, Carl…" I muttered and threw a pair of pants in the basket as I ran to find my little brother. I found him standing a few good feet away from their tent as he called out on mom.

"Mom?" he asked softly and waited for her to respond. I ran up to him and grabbed him.

"What are you doing? Trying to give me a freaking heart attack?" I asked slightly angered as I stared into his eyes.

"Sorry, Alex. Just wanted to check on mom…" he said sadly and looked at the ground. I grabbed him by his shoulders and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Carl Grimes, you are going to be the death of me," I muttered to him, trying to hide my anger. Soon I looked up and saw Shane exiting the tent. I stood up straight and let go of my brother.

"'Sup, bud," Shane talked to Carl. "She's in there. Go on," he said while patting Carl's head and walking off. I stared after him with a suspicious eye but soon followed Carl towards our mom.

"Hey," mom said to us and sat down on her knees so she would be the same level as Carl. "I don't want you to worry," she told him. "Your mom's not going anywhere." Carl nodded and the both of them hugged. I smiled and went back to the rest of the group to do, whatever.


	3. Guts

Guts

* * *

After that incident, me and Amy had went into the forrest and picked up some berries and other stuff to eat. She was worried sick for her sister, Andrea, being in the city. I just tried to calm her down as best as I could. We picked berries in silence, until she broke it with worrying.

"What if they don't make it back?" she asked while she stared at me with sad eyes. I glanced up at her and then back at the bushes.

"They will, alright? She's strong - _they_ are strong. Andrea will be just fine, don't worry, Amy," I told her soothingly. We were now done and couldn't find anything else so we walked back with our little bucket to the camp. There we went to mom, as she was rinsing her berries and nuts she had found.

"Any luck?" she asked us as we got closer. We didn't answer though, Amy just poured the berries into a little bowl mom held in her hand.

"How do we tell if they're poisoned?" Amy asked. Mom picked one up and sort of examined it.

"There's only one sure way I know…" she said. Amy and I stared at her for a bit.

"Ask Shane when he gets back?" I asked her. Mom put down the berry, stood up and brushed off a little dirt on her jeans.

"Yeah, you got it," she said and walked off with the bucket. "Dale," she called on the elderly male on top of the RV. "I'm heading out," she told him and I walked to my little brother who was playing with toy cars on the ground. "Sweetheart, I want you to stay with Alex and where Dale can see you, okay?" she told Carl, who only nodded in response and went back to his cars. I sat down beside him and decided to play a bit too.

"You too!" Dale called out on mom. "Don't wander too far, stay in shouting distance. And if you see anything, holler. I'll come running." Mom started walking off but I could hear a slight voice of her say something before.

"Yes, mom," she said quietly. I smiled at her and went back to play with my little brother, which I did for a few more hours until I heard Dale and Jim working on the RV. I left my brother with his toys and figured I wanted to help Dale out.

"What's up?" I asked them once I got close enough.

"That hose doesn't belong to this world, does it?" Dale asked Jim, seeming not to have heard me.

"No, sir," Jim said back and I just watched the two men work on the car.

"Where the hell are we gonna find a replacement?" Dale muttered as he tried to drag something out of the motor. I looked over the camp and saw Amy just pacing back and forth multiple times. She suddenly sighed heavily.

"It's late. They should've been back by now!" she exclaimed. I shrugged as she looked at me.

"Worrying wont make it better," I told her softly. She walked off and I walked behind her. "Amy, relax. They'll be back soon, I know it," I reassured her but she kept walking, fast. I couldn't keep up with her and ended up stopping dead on my tracks. I looked around and saw mom hanging up laundry on a line as she watched Shane teach Carl something. I walked towards her and listened to what the guys were saying.

"That a boy," Shane told him. "And three, two, one, pull! Yeah!" he said and chuckled after.

"What's going on?" I asked mom quietly as I walked up behind her, grabbing a shirt and hanging it up.

"Shane's teaching Carl some knots," she told me just as quietly. I nodded with a smile and helped my mother out as much as I could while still trying to listen to my brother and the police officer I had known basically my whole life.

"Good, just tie it around your finger," Shane seemed to whisper to Carl. I smiled at the both of them. Suddenly, statics on the police radio was heard again and we ran towards it.

 _"Hello, base camp,"_ T-Dog's voice said. I sighed in relief and happiness. _"Can anybody out there hear me? Base camp, this is T-Dog. Anybody hear me?"_ Dale picked the phone up and tried to get through.

"Hello? Reception's bad out here, repeat, repeat," he told T-Dog.

 _"Shane, is that you?"_ T-Dog, earning a slight scoff from me.

"Is that them?" mom asked Dale. He put up a finger, telling us to wait a moment as he tried to change the channel for better reception.

 _"We're stuck in shit-…-trapped in the department store-…"_ Shane rubbed the back of his head.

"They say they're trapped?" he asked but no one answered.

 _"The geeks are all over the place-…- surrounded-…"_

"T-Dog, repeat that last!" Dale exclaimed into the CB, but the only answer was statics. I sighed and looked down at the ground. Carl got to my side and stuck close.

"He said the department store," mom said with hands on her hips.

"I heard it too," Dale said from the top of the RV.

"Yeah, I did too," I told them as I rubbed Carl's back, trying to calm him down. Everybody was quiet for a while, until mom walked up to Shane.

"No way," I just heard him say, not knowing what he meant by that. "We do not go after them. We do not risk the rest of the group, ya'll know that," he told us all and I felt my eyes widen. At this moment all I could think of was 'heartless'. That was our friends out there. Our family.

"So we're just gonna leave her there?!" Amy asked, referring to Andrea. She was on the verge of getting real upset and I could see it.

"Amy, I know that this isn't easy," Shane told her while walking up to her.

"She volunteered to go!" her voice was slightly raising. "To help the rest of us!"

"I know," Shane looked down at the ground. "But she knew the risks, right?" he said now looking at her face. "If they're trapped, she's gone. So we just have to deal with that there's nothing we could do," he said calmly, which kind of upset me. We were all quiet for a moment before Amy got up to his face in full confident.

"She's my sister, you son of a bitch!" she said and ran off. Mom and Shane shared a look before she sighed and walked after Amy, calling on her. I stayed behind with Carl, making sure he would be alright. Shane got up to us and put a hand on Carl's head.

"It's okay," he told him before walking off in a different direction. I turned Carl towards me.

"Come on, let's do something fun," I proposed. His eyes lit up and looked up at me.

"Yeah!" he exclaimed and dragged me to where he had put some of his toys.

* * *

After another hour or so, me and Carl were just sitting on a log talking about random things while he was snuggled into my side. I gave him a smiled before we started to talk again about how things used to be and all.

"I really hope dad was here…" he suddenly said, which made my heart ache. I pulled him closer to me and kissed the top of his head.

"Yeah, me too…" I said and he fell asleep in my arms. I smiled at his adorableness before picking him up and put him in his tent. "Sleep tight, little prince."


	4. Tell It To The Frogs

Tell it to the frogs

* * *

Mom, Carl, Shane and I sat by an unlit fireplace. Mom tried to cut Carl's hair, Shane was fixing his rifle and I was cleaning my arrows for my bow. Carl moved his head a little and mom grabbed it while trying to comb his hair out.

"Baby, the more you fidget the longer it takes, so don't okay?" mom told him which made me smile down at my arrows.

"I'm trying," Carl whined.

"Well, try harder," mom said and I started to giggle. "Don't be smiling too long. Next is your turn," mom told me and my face dropped to a frown.

"If you think this is bad," Shane started to talk to Carl. "Wait 'til you start shaving. That stings," he said and put the rifle in a better position on his lap. I smiled at what he said and turned back to my arrows. "The day comes when you be wishing for one of your mommas haircuts."

"I believe that when I see it," Carl said which made me laugh.

"Tell you what. Just, get through this with some manly dignity and tomorrow, I'll teach you something special," Shane reasoned with Carl, who seemed to think it through. "I will teach you, how to catch frogs," Shane finished.

"I've got a frog before," Carl said and I shook my head.

"No, frogs. Plural," I lectured him.

"Yes, and it's an art, my friend. It is not to be taken lightly. There are ways and means a few people know about. I'm all for sharing my secrets," Shane told him with a glint in his eyes. Carl seemed to be thinking about it so he turned to me and mom as is to ask us.

"No, we're girls. You talk to him," mom said to him and turned his head straight forward again. Shane smiled as he seemed to examine his rifle for the fourth time this hour.

"It's a one time offer, bud," he said to Carl. "Not to be repeated."

"Why do we need frogs…plural?" Carl asked the real question. I nodded and turned my attention to Shane to ask him the same question.

"Ever eaten frog legs?" Shane asked.

"Eeew!" both me and Carl said with disgusted faces as we stared at him.

"No! Yum!" he said with a smile.

"No, they're right. Ew," mom nodded, still combing Carl's hair while Shane chuckled.

"When we get down to that last can of beans, you gonna be loving those frog legs, lady," he said. "You see, now, 'Sh-Shane, d-do you think I can have a second helping please? J-ju-just one?'" Shane mocked my mom and my brother and I laughed.

"Yeah, I doubt that," mom told him with a smile.

"Don't listen to her, man. You and me, we'll be heroes," Shane said.

"The heroes with the frog legs," I muttered mostly to myself but the others heard and Carl giggled.

"We'll feed these folks, cajun-style Kermit leg," Shane continued. I smiled to myself again since Shane was acting sort of silly with this whole frog leg thing.

"I would rather eat Miss Piggy," my mom muttered, which earned all of our attentions. "Yes, that came out wrong," she nodded and we all smiled.

"Heroes, son! Spoken up in songs and legends. You and me, Shane and Carl," Shane finished of with a wink. Suddenly, an alarm sound was heard over the quarry and all of our attention got alert. I grabbed my bow and arrows and stood up quick. Me and Shane got up first as we walked over to Dale, who was once again standing on top of his RV. "Talk to me, Dale!" Shane yelled over to him. Dale shook his head.

"Can't see anything yet!" he called back.

"It sounds like a car alarm," I said to Shane who glanced over to me and then went towards the road. I walked shortly after him.

"Is it them? Are they back?" Amy asked worrying the hell out of herself.

"It's a stolen car's, my guess!" Dale called out. Soon enough, a red mustang drove up to us and stopped. I held an arrow and my bow in front of me in case it was gonna get badly. However, the car door opened and out came Glenn. I lowered my weapon and put back the arrow. I walked up to him to see what the hell was going on. "Holy crap, turn that damn thing off!" Dale yelled at the asian boy.

"I don't know how!" Glenn called back with a smile.

"Open the hood!" I yelled over the sound. Soon too many people were talking at the same time. Me and Shane wanting Glenn to open the hood, Amy trying to find out where Andrea was and Glenn yelling over everybody not knowing what to do. Although he ignored Amy for a second to get in the car and open the hood for Shane.

"Is she okay? Is she alive?!" Amy asked worried again.

"Yeah, she's fine!" Glenn yelled once the car alarm was off.

"Why isn't she with you? Where is she? She's okay?" Amy kept asking. Glenn seemed to get tired but responded either way.

"Yes! Yeah, fine. Everybody is. Well, Merle not so much," he said.

"Merle? What the hell happened to Merle?" I asked, maybe a little bit harshly. Glenn was just about to answer, but Shane talked over him.

"You crazy driving this wheeling bastard up here? You tryna draw every walker for miles?" he asked angrily.

"I think we're okay," Dale said calmly. "That alarm echoed all over these hills, will be hard to pinpoint the source." Shane slammed the hood shut and I walked back to my family. "I'm not arguing, I'm just saying," Dale told Shane who was glaring at the old man. "Wouldn't hurt you to think things through more carefully next time, though," he directed it to Glenn this time, who suddenly looked a little guilty.

"Sorry," he said and slightly turned back to the mustang. "Got a cool car." I smiled at his sort of innocence. Glenn was certainly something else. Once everybody had cooled down on the anger another car drove up, this time being a truck. We all looked towards it with slight suspicion. We heard a door slam and the first one to show up was Andrea. Amy cried out and ran towards her sister and embraced tightly. Soon the rest of them got out to and everybody was happy. Carl however seemed real sad so me and mom took him to the side to cheer him up a bit. He looked back towards the truck again since something seemed to catch his eye.

"Dad!" he yelled out and I looked over as well. There he was. The man who I thought I would never see again. We all ran towards him and hugged each other tightly as tears ran from all of us. Suddenly we all fell to the ground in a huge pile, but we didn't care. We were together again, like a real family.

* * *

"Disoriented," my dad started to say while our whole group sat down by a fire. Carl sat on the ground in between dad's legs, mom by dad's side and me on the other, resting my head on his shoulder. "I guess that comes closest. Disoriented," he sighed and looked down at Carl before continuing. "Fear, confusion. All those things, but… Disoriented comes closest," he said while rubbing his chin.

"Words can be meager things…" Dale muttered as he put his cup down on the ground. "Sometimes they fall short."

"I felt like I'd been ripped out of my life," dad continued. "And put somewhere else. For a while I thought I'd been trapped in some coma dream. Something I might not wake up from, ever…" he finished. I looked up at him from his shoulder.

"Mom said you died," I told him. Dad looked down at me and Carl before answering.

"She had every reason to believe that. Don't you ever doubt it, both of you," he said and pulled Carl's hair back from his face.

"When things started to get really bad, they told me at the hospital that… That they were gonna evacuate you and every other patients to Atlanta…" mom told my dad.

"But that never happened…" I finished for her and rested my head back on dad's shoulder.

"No, I'm not surprised after Atlanta fell," dad said. "And from the look at that hospital it got overrun."

"Yeah, looks don't deceive," Shane spoke from the other end of the fire. "I barely got them out," he told my dad, referring to me, mom and Carl.

"I can't tell how grateful I am to you, Shane," dad said to his best friend. "Can't begin to express it."

"Yeah, there it goes. Words falling short again," Dale said with a slight smile, trying to light up the sudden mood in the group. I got up from my seat but dad quickly caught a grip on my wrist.

"Where you going?" he whispered.

"To bed, see ya in the morning," I told him and gave him a kiss on the cheek and Carl one on his forehead. I walked over to mom and hugged her good night while giving her a cheek-kiss as well. After that I just quickly walked to my tent.

* * *

I woke up the next morning actually happy for once. My whole family was back together and it just felt like nothing could take us on. I got out of my tent and went straight to where mom was.

"How'd you sleep?" she asked me.

"Good, for once. Having dad back took the dreams away, I guess," I told her. She smiled at me and pulled me into a hug.

"How about you go on and check on Carl, alright sweetie?" she asked me. I nodded and obligated. Once I passed dad I said good morning and he did the same. I looked after him as he went straight to mom, and I smiled at the both of them. Turning back I tried to find my little brother.

"Carl?" I called out not to loudly. "Where are you my little prince?" I teased but got no whine or groan back at me, which was strange. He hated when I called him that. "Carl!" I called out again, now getting slightly worried. I passed Jacqui in the camp. "Hey, you've seen my brother?" I asked her. She shrugged her shoulders.

"Sorry, honey. Ain't seen him the whole day," she said concerned and kept going past me.

"Carl?" I called out again, now going into the woods a bit. "Dude, if mom finds out you're here, she'll freak…" I muttered. Suddenly two scream were heard further into the forrest. "Carl!" I yelled and ran towards the source. Coming right at me was two terrified kids, both embracing me in a hug. "Jesus Christ, don't scare me like that…" Soon came the whole group and I let go of the kids as they ran to each mom.

"You okay, baby? Are you bit? No. Nothing scratched you?" mom asked Carl as she examined him. Carl just shook his head to answer. I looked back at where the men went and decided to go after. When we got to a small clearing we all saw it. A walker, eating of a deer. Everybody stayed quiet as we all pretty much just stared in awe. However, Amy and Andrea came up behind me and gasped as they saw the creature. That gained its attention and it turned around slowly to attack us all, but the guys were quick to beat him to the ground. They all just continuously beat the walker until Dale cut his head off and it stopped moving.

"It's the first one we've had up here," he said, slightly out of breath. "They never come this far up the mountain," he told us all as we just stood there, looking down at the corpse.

"Well, they're running out of food in the city, that's what," Jim said. They all took a small breather, but that soon ended since rustling could be heard in the bushes behind Jim. Everybody's attention snapped over there and they all raised their weapons. However, no one attacked since all they saw coming out was the redneck Dixon, seeming pissed off as always.

"Jesus…" Shane muttered as he saw who it was.

"Son of a bitch!" Daryl's thick southern accent called out once he saw the dead walker. "That's my deer! Look at it all naught on it by this filthy, disease-bearing, motherless, proxy bastard!" he exclaimed angrily and kicked the corpse by every insult.

"Daryl, come on," I said to him, which made him stop kicking and start glaring at me. I challenged him with a glare myself.

"Calm down, son. That ain't helping," Dale told Daryl, who now dropped his gaze on me to get in the old man's face.

"What do you know about it, old man?" he said.

"Daryl," I warned.

"You take that stupid hat and go back to On Golden Pond!" he yelled. He then got out of Dale's face to sigh and turn back to the deer. "Been tracking this deer for miles…" he ranted while getting out his arrows from the deer. I felt like I didn't need to be there so I went back to camp and back to mom and Carl. Once I had gotten into a conversation with them and some others from the group Daryl got out of the woods, calling for his brother. "Merle," he called out. "Merle! Chug your ass out 'ere! Got us some squirrel. Let's stew 'em up!" he kept calling. I was just about to go talk to him, tell him his brother isn't there, but mom grabbed ahold of my shoulder and shook her head as no.

"Hey, Daryl. Slow up a bit, I need to talk to you," Shane said calmly to the redneck. Daryl stopped and turned to him.

"About what?" he asked.

"'Bout Merle," Shane answered. "There's a uh… A problem in Atlanta." Everybody stopped to watch the two of them talk. Daryl seemed confused as he roamed his eyes over everyone of us.

"He dead?" he then asked.

"Not sure."

"Either he is or he ain't!" Daryl got angered by every second and everybody could see it. Eventually my dad stepped up to tell the truth.

"There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just say it," he said, walking up to stand next to his best friend.

"Who're you?" Daryl asked.

"Rick Grimes," dad simply stated as he looked up at the angered redneck.

"Rick Grimes. You got something you wanna tell me?!" Daryl kept on with the questions.

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof up to a piece of metal. He's still there," dad explained. Daryl looked away from him.

"Hold on, let me process this. So you handcuffed my brother to a roof? And you left him there?!" he now yelled at my dad, who looked slightly guilty.

"Yeah…" Daryl got even madder. He threw the squirrels over at my dad, who dodged them, but then Daryl started swinging but nothing hit before Shane tackled him down. Daryl then took out a knife and started swinging at my dad once again. Dad took ahold of his arm and made him drop the knife as Shane got back at Daryl.

"Best let me go!" he yelled out as Shane laid him down holding him tight by the neck.

"Nah, think it's better if I don't," Shane said while Daryl still struggled.

"Choke holds illegal," Daryl coughed out, earning a slight scoff from me but my mom nudged my shoulder as if to warn me. I rolled my eyes and looked back at the scene in front of us all.

"Then file a complaint," Shane told him while still trying to calm him down. "Come on man, we can keep this up all day," Shane said while dad walked up in front of Daryl and him crouching down to get in their level.

"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic, you think we can manage that?" he asked the redneck as he was still struggling in Shane's arms. "You think we could manage that?" my dad asked once again and Daryl complied, making Shane let go of him. "What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work or play well with others," dad explained.

"It's not Rick's fault," T-Dog said, earning everybody's attention to look at him. "I had the key, I dropped it."  
"Couldn't you pick it up?!" Daryl asked, glaring at T-Dog.

"I dropped it in a drain…" he answered. Daryl seemed suddenly more upset than angered as he looked down at the ground, trying to get himself together. He then stood up and walked towards T-Dig.

"If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't," he said while tossing some gravel to the ground.

"Maybe this will. I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him, with a padlock," T-Dog told him.

"It gotta count for something," I tried to tell Daryl, who just now glared at me. He then looked down at the ground as he seemed to sniffle.

"Hell with all ya'll!" he yelled at all of us. "Just tell me where he is, so I can go get him!" he demanded, trying to calm down.

"He'll show you," my mom said behind me. I snapped my head towards her, as did the rest of the groups. "Ain't that right?" she talked to my dad and I looked back at him to see him answer. Dad nodded.

"I'm going back," he told the redneck. Mom looked away and went inside the RV. I looked after her but stayed put. Then Daryl walked away as well. After that I just went my own way down the quarry, trying to relax by the blue water down there. I looked up at the mountain after a while and saw dad, Daryl, Glenn and T-Dog driving to the city for their mission to get back Merle and a bag of guns.

* * *

After a few minutes a whole bunch of our groups was down here with me. Shane and Carl tried to catch some frogs and I helped the women out with washing everybody's clothes. Suddenly Shane started to whip around in the water, acting as silly as ever and talking bull mostly. Carl seemed amused by it though, so I smiled at them. Carl took up his net to see what he got, but nothing was in it except dirt so he started to frown, but he soon smiled again as they tried to catch frogs one more time. I didn't quite hear what Jacqui said, but I knew she was complaining about the work we all had to do.

"The world ended, didn't you get the memo?" Amy asked sarcastically. I smiled at her and looked at the others. Carol slightly looked over her shoulder towards her douche husband who were just standing by their car smoking a cigarette.

"It's just the way it is…" she sighed as she handed a newly washed shirt to Jacqui. "I do miss my Maytag…" she suddenly said.

"I miss my Benz. My sat-nav," Andrea said dreamy.

"I miss my coffeemaker, with that dual-drip filter and built-in grinder, honey…" Jacqui dreamed as she stared into nothing while squeezing out the water from the clothes.

"I miss my computer…" I sighed.

"Me too. And texting," Amy said. There was a brief moment of silence between us all before Andrea broke it.

"I miss my vibrator," she said and I couldn't help but to stare at her with my mouth slightly open, as did the rest of them. Carol once again glanced over her shoulder towards Ed and then turned back to us.

"Me too," she said quietly and we all burst out laughing. We all laughed a short while together before Ed walked up behind us, smoking his cigarette.

"What's so funny?" he asked, revealing his southern accent.

"Just swapping war-stories, Ed," I told him and went back to the shirt I was cleaning and we all went quiet. Ed didn't leave though, he just stood there watching us closely while smoking. Andrea sighed as she turned to him, slightly annoyed.

"Problem, Ed?" she asked with an attitude.

"None that concerns you," he said and took the cigarette to his mouth and puffed out smoke. "You ought to focus on your work. This ain't no comedy club." Andrea blinked in disbelief as she tried to just ignore his presence. I looked up to see my mom walking down towards Carl and Shane. She told my brother something and he went up the water to walk back to camp with my mom slightly after. However Shane stopped her and they started to argue about something. I stood up to go there, but my mom had already left Shane standing alone. I sighed and went back to work. Shane started walking after them later on but stopped. I decided to leave it and looked back at the girls by my side. Andrea seemed very annoyed by now so she tried and talk to Ed.

"Ed, tell you what? You don't like how your laundry's done then you are welcome to pitch in and do it yourself. Here," she said and tossed him the piece of clothing she was holding onto. Ed tossed it right back a little bit too forcefully, making Andrea almost trip.

"Ain't my job, missy," he just said. I stood and walked up behind Andrea to support her.

"What is your job, Ed?" I asked with an attitude. "Sitting on your ass and smoking cigarettes?"

"It sure isn't listening to some smart upety smart mouthed bitch," he said and I scoffed out in sarcasm.

"Wow, good one," I told him sarcastically.

"Come on! Let's go!" he then called on Carol.

"I don't think she needs to go anywhere with you, Ed," Andrea defended as Carol got up from her seat, as if ready to listen to her husband.

"And I say that's none of your business," Ed told her. "Come on now. You heard me," he then told his wife as she just stood still. She then started to move and I stood in between her and Ed. There was no way I was going to leave her alone with him. "Hey, don't think I won't knock you on your ass, just cause you're some college educated cooze, alright?" he told Andrea as she now held Carol back along side me. "Now you come on now, or ya gonna regret it later," he turned to his wife again.

"So she can show up with fresh bruises later, Ed? Yah, we've seen them!" Jacqui said from behind us and Ed chuckled.

"Stay out of it," he told us. "Now come on!" he once again told his wife, now more angered. "You know what, this ain't none of ya'll business," he told us all and got up to my face as I just glared at him. If looks could kill, he'd be six feet under by now. "Ya'll won't keep prying the bull here, okay? Now I'm done talking! Come on," he said and grabbed Carol by the arm. I swapped his hand away from her and he just kept grabbing her. We were all trying to get him away from her, begging Carol not to go. "You don't tell me what?! I'll tell you what!" he yelled before smacking Carol hard across her cheek. I got mad and punched him straight on his nose, breaking it with force. Anger was radiating out of him as he just glared at me as I did the same. Just as he was about to swing he got tackled down by Shane. Shane dragged him away from us and continuously beat him red. Ed's face was swollen as shit and he was bleeding everywhere. Shane got out of control and didn't stop. We all yelled for him to stop but nothing happened. I then stomped over and kicked Shane off of Ed. He laid down on the ground, seeming sort of confused. He quickly got up and grabbed Ed's collar.

"You put your hands on your wife, your little girl or anybody else in this camp one more time, I will not stop next time. Do you hear me? Do you hear me?! I'll beat you to death, Ed. I'll beat you to death!" he told Ed with a scary voice I had never heard him use before and punched him one more time. I slightly back away from them as I just stared. Shane got off of him and kicked him one last time. Carol ran toward her husband and laid down next to him, crying. Shane seemed to get more pissed and walked off, rubbing the back of his head.

* * *

A/N: As you see, this chapter got a bit longer (over 4 000 words...) so I told ya! Haha(notfunny)! Yeah... I don't know, haven't got any sleep so I'm pretty much a goner right now. Also, thank you to those who have followed and reviewed this story so far, it really means a lot.


	5. Vatos

So this chapter was kind of hard to write, mostly because there weren't that many situations I could put Alex in, but I still hope you enjoy it either way.

* * *

Vatos

* * *

I was now back at camp, sitting by my mother small talking to everybody. Suddenly Amy and Andrea got back from fishing and they carried two full nets with fish. I heard Morales chuckle behind me before he walked up to them happy as ever.

"Will you look at that? Hey, check it out!" he said and laughed after excitedly. Mom sat down and clapped her hands at the two sisters. "Ladies," Morales continued. "Because of you, my children will eat tonight! Thank you!" he said very thankfully as the sisters handed him the fish.

"Thank Dale," Andrea told him. "It's his canoeing gear."

"Mom, Alex, look!" my brother said from my side. "Look at all the fish!" he exclaimed just as happy as Morales. I giggled at him and ruffled his hair. Morales felt like joking around a little so he brought the net of fish up close to my mom, wish she just tried to back away from with a small smile. "Wow…" Carl said in awe as he stared at the many fish.

"Yeah, wow," I said in just as much awe.

"Where'd you two learn to do that?" my mom asked in slight disbelief.

"Our dad," Amy said proudly as she took a sip of water.

"Can you teach me how to do that?" Carl asked them both.

"Sure!" Amy said. "We'll teach you all about nail knots and stuff," she said and looked at my mom. "If that's okay?" she asked her.

"You won't catch me arguing," my mom said while shaking her head.

"Hey, Dale!" Andrea called out. "When was the last time you oiled those landgrills? They are a disgrace!" she said jokingly to the older man.

"I uh… I don't wanna alarm anyone, but… we may have a problem," Dale told everyone a bit worried and I saw Shane walking up to us as those words were spoken. Dale turned around and pointed at the hill. There we saw Jim, shoveling into the ground like a crazy person. We all walked up to him to check on what was going on. Shane stepped up a bit to show of his sort of 'leader roll'.

"Hey, Jim?" he said and awaited an answer from the shoveling man. "Why don't you hold up, alright? Just gimme a second here, please?" he asked. Jim put the shovel to the ground and turned to the group.

"What do ya want?" he asked as if everything was normal.

"We're just a little concerned, that's all," I told him as I looked at his drenched t-shirt of sweat.

"Dale says you've been out here for hours," Morales spoke up.

"So?" Jim shrugged.

"So why you diggin'?" Shane asked curiously. "You heading to China?" he joked with a bit of a cocky smile on his face.

"Doesn't matter, I'm not hurting anyone," Jim shrugged again and went back to digging into the ground with his shovel.

"Yeah, except maybe yourself," I told him as concerned as I was.

"It's a hundred degrees today," Dale said just as concerned. "You can't keep this up."

"Sure I can! Watch me!" Jim said louder as he shoved the shovel harder into the ground. My mom walked up behind us to talk to the man.

"Jim, they're not gonna say it so I will. You're scaring people. You're scaring my son and Carol's daughter," she said with soft eyes looking at him. Jim seemed to be panting a bit as he stopped digging.

"They got nothin' to be scared of," he said and showed with his hands where the kids stood by Carol. We all stayed quiet. "Hey, what the hell people. I'm out here by myself, why don't you all just go and leave me the hell alone," he told us all and got back to his shovel. I slightly rolled my eyes as Jim was acting ridiculous. We were only trying to help, and he could die out here all by himself. Shane walked a bit closer as he once again tried to reason with Jim.

"We think you need to take a break," he said calmly. "Why don't you go and take yourself to the shade. Get some food. Maybe- I'll tell you what, maybe in a little bit I'll come out here I… I'll help you myself." Shane reasoned but Jim kept shoveling. "Jim? Just tell me what this is about. Just go ahead and gimme that shovel."

"Or what?" Jim asked as he stopped and looked straight at Shane.

"There is no 'or what', I'm asking you, I'm coming to you and I'm asking you, please. I don't wanna have to take it from you," Shane told the man.

"If I don't, then what?" Jim asked with a serious voice and look on his face. "Then you gonna beat my face in like Ed Peletier, aren't you?" he asked Shane first but then turned to the rest of the group. "Ya'll seen his face, huh? What's left of it!" he exclaimed to them all. "See that's what happens when someone crosses you," he said to Shane.

"That was different, Jim," Shane said with a deadly look on his face.

"You weren't there!" Amy spoke up from behind us. "Ed was out of control, he was hurting his wife."

"That's their marriage, that is not his!" Jim said loudly and pointed at Shane. "He is not judging jury. Who voted you king boss, huh?"

"Calm down," I tried to reason but in vain 'cause nobody's listening.

"Jim, I'm not here to argue with you, alright. Just give me the shovel, okay?" Shane said once again calmly and walked up to grab the shovel but Jim held it out of his reach. They started to argue about the shovel a bit before Jim started to swinging it at Shane, which led Shane to tackle him down. We all stared at the scene, unsure of what to do. I was about to go up and split the two but mom caught me and led me to Carl, Sophia and Carol.

"You got no right!" I heard Jim yell from behind us.

"Stop it, Jim!" Shane was the next voice I heard. Then it was the two of them slightly arguing. Jim about how Shane was unfair and Shane trying to calm Jim down. "No one's gonna hurt you," Shane told him and I turned to watch the scene. Shane was on top of Jim's back as he layer flatly on his stomach on the ground.

"That's a lie," Jim said, slightly calmer this time. "It's the biggest lie there is…" he said a bit sadly as he looked up at all of us from the ground. "I told that to my wife and my two boys, I said it a hundred times… It didn't matter. They came out of nowhere. There were dozen's of them. Just pulled them right out of my hand…" he got quiet for a while and watched us all as we were listening intensely. "The only reason I got away was because the dead were too busy eating my family…" After that I walked off, started to think about my closest. I had my family here, yeah. But the other ones… Like Felix… I wondered what ever happened to him and it brought small tears in my eyes. Soon Carl came running after me, slightly worried. I quickly wiped the tears before he saw them.

"Hey, you okay, dude?" I asked him furrowing my eyebrows. He only nodded and looked like he was in deep thought.

"Are you?" he asked and I dropped my frown to force a smile at my brother.

"Of course. I gotta be, right?" I told him and ruffled his hair before I started to walk again.

"You sure? You looked like you were thinking a lot and you had that frown formed, ya know the one were the wrinkles show on your forehead," he said and I stopped him before he could say more.

"Woah, woah. We've talked about this. I might be older than you, but that ain't meaning I'm old."  
"You're twenty."

"So?"

"So, you're old," my brother teased with a bright smile. I smiled down at the ground and looked at him.

"Yeah, and you're just a kid still," I teased back with just as bright smile as he gave me. That soon disappeared as I watched behind my brother to see Shane, Morales and Dale practically dragging Jim to the camp. Once they did they sat him down under a tree and tied him to it. "Isn't that a little much?" I asked Dale as Morales and Shane tied Jim up. Dale smiled tightly up at me as he spoke.

"It's for his own good, child," the older man told me. He patted my shoulder before walking away, leaving me standing there looking at Jim who had a pretty sad expression on. Remembering his family's death could not have been easy for the poor guy.

"Hey, Alex!" my brother said behind me. "Will you help me with my math?" he asked as he and mom were already sitting by a table in front of the tree Jim was tied to. I nodded with a smile and walked up to my family and sat down. I helped Carl and Sophia a bit until Shane and Dale walked back up to Jim with a bucket of water. I didn't hear what they said but Shane let Jim drink some water from a mug and he also poured a bit on his head to help from the heat.

"Sorry if I scared your boy, and your little girl," Jim said to us by the table. I smiled at him and nodded.

"You had sunstroke. Nobody's blaming you," mom told him and went back to helping call.

"You're not scared now, are you?" Jim asked Carl and Sophia, who answered by shaking their heads and telling him 'no,sir'. Everybody was just quiet a while before Jim spoke again. "Your mom was right, son. Just, struck my head, that's all," he reassured my brother. I smiled at him again before turning my attention to Carl and his math again.

"Jim, d'ya know why you were digging?" Dale asked him concerned. Jim slowly looked up at the older man as he spoke.

"I had a reason, I don't remember. Something I dreamt last night," he answered before looking back at Carl and me. "Your dad was in it, you were too. You were worried about him. Can't remember the rest," he told us and I found myself staring confusingly at him. "You worried about your dad?" he asked us both. I simply shook my head with a small smile while Carl answered in words.

"They're not back yet…" he said while shaking his head.

"We don't need to talk about that," mom smiled at Jim while rubbing Carl's back.

"Your dad's a police officer, son. He helps people, he probably just came across some folks needing help, that's all. That man, he's tough as nails. I don't know him well but, I could see it in him. Am I right?" Jim looked up at Shane at the end of the sentence as if to direct the question to him.

"Oh, yeah," Shane answered in a slight sigh. Jim turned back at us to keep talking.

"Ain't nothing gonna stop him from getting back here to you, your sister and your mom. I promise you that," Jim reassured my brother again. Mom smiled at him again. Shane picked up the bucket and started to slowly walk as he looked at us all.

"Alright, who wants to help me clean some fish, huh?" Shane asked. Carl seemed to light up quickly.

"Sweet, come on Sophia!" Carl told his friend as they went after Shane, with Carol and mom quickly behind them. I choose to stay behind to talk a little to Jim. I approached him and was just about to speak when he interrupted me by speaking himself.

"You keep your brother and mother close. You don't ever let them out of your sight," he told me with a dead serious look on his face. I got a bit shocked. I got up quickly from crouching beside him to ran after my family to do exactly as Jim told me, keep them close.

* * *

Most of the day I had ran around, helping everybody. At one time I helped clean the fish, another I helped Morales build a sort of stone wall around the fire so it would burn higher but still be hidden. Right now however, I was keeping watch on top of the RV while everybody just minded their own business. Dark had fallen and I got down to join the group and eating dinner. The fish tasted delicious. We all ate together while smiling, laughing and telling stories. Suddenly Morales started to talk.

"I gotta ask you, man. It's been driving me crazy," he directed his speech to Dale.

"What?" Dale asked curiously of what Morales wanted to know.

"That watch," Morales said and pointed at Dale's wrist. Dale smiled and looked at his watch as well.

"What's wrong with my watch?" he asked.

"I see you everyday, same time winding that thing like a village priest saying mass," Morales told him a bit jokingly.

"I wondered this myself," Jacqui said right next to me.

"I'm missing the point," Dale said with his smile still intact on his face.

"Unless I've misread the signs, the world seems to have come to an end," I told the older man and took another bite of the fish.

"But still I see you everyday winding that stupid watch," Morales pointed out. Dale still smiled at all of us.

"Time, is important to keep track, ain't it? The days atleast. Don't you think? Andrea, back me up here," he told the blonde who just shrugged without saying anything. "I like what, uh, a father said to son when he give him a watch that had been handed down through generations. He said 'I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine or my father's before me, I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment now and then and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it.'" There was a moment of silence from all of us before Amy talked.

"You're so weird," she said and we all chuckled at that.

"It's not me, it's Faulkner. William Faulkner. Maybe my bad paraphrasing," Dale said and we all kept our smiles on our faces. Amy suddenly got up from her seat but Andrea stopped her.

"Where are you going?" she asked her sister.

"I have to pee. Jeez, you tryin' to be discreet around here…" Amy muttered and we all shared another chuckle together.

"So, Alexandra," Dale said making my attention go from my food to him. "There's not much we've heard of you. How was your life before all this?" he asked me. I glanced at my mom but she only frowned at the ground so I looked back at Dale.

"Nothing exiting. I was in Florida, on college. But, when my dad got injured I went back home and then all of this happened I guess," I told him quickly before taking the last bite of my fish. I could see that Dale had more questions, but that soon got interrupted by a scream from the RV. We all watched in terror as a walker were eating off of Amy's arm. "Amy!" I yelled as I got up. I picked up my bow and arrows, which I had beside me, and started shooting all the walkers that got into camp. I stood in front of my mom and brother while I tried to protect them. They were both screaming and slightly crying. Once I got out of arrows I got jumped by a walker. Carl screamed as I wrestled the corpse that snapped it's jaw at my face. As I was just about to give up my strength to hold it away an arrow was shot right by the side of it's face. I pushed the corpse away from me and I saw a hand stretching out for me to take. I looked up to see it being Daryl.

"Come on! We ain't got all day!" the redneck yelled at me. I sighed in relief as I took his hand and he helped me get up. I got up my gun from my holster on my side and started shooting all around me. As we made sure all the walkers were gone I ran to my family to check on them. Carl was crying out of fright, mom didn't know what to say and dad just sighed in relief that we were all safe. I looked around camp, trying to see if there were anymore walkers coming. I couldn't see any, but soon I heard something that Jim said.

"I remember my dream now. Why I dug the holes…"


	6. Wildfire

Wildfire

* * *

By now it was morning again and we all had work to do. We were going to burn the walkers that attacked us and bury the rest of our group that didn't make it, including Amy. I was walking around with a pitchfork and dug it into corpse's brains so they wouldn't come back. It reeked of dead and rotten and it made me cringe every time I took a breath. I looked over at the RV and saw Andrea still sitting by her dead sister, just staring.

"Maybe someone should go talk to her…" I suggested to the group while still not taking my eyes off of the blonde sisters.

"I'll go," my mom sighed and walked up to the both of them. I continued doing what I did earlier but still having a close eye on Amy, making sure she wouldn't come back. My mom seemed to not have reached Andrea in her speech so she went back to the rest of us. I myself took a breather from working and sat down next to Carol. Dad came up to us and asked about Andrea.

"She still won't move?" he asked while looking at Shane.

"Won't even talk to us," my mom said. I looked at her and gently patted her shoulder, but she seemed to flinch so I stopped. Somehow she's been trying to avoid me since last night when Dale asked about my past. I couldn't exactly blame her, but getting the cold shoulder wasn't exactly how I wanted her to react. "She's been there all night. What do we do?" she continued and we all looked over to the sisters again.

"We can't just leave Amy like that," I muttered as I looked down at the ground with a frown.

"We need to deal with it, just like the others," Shane said. I agreed with him, but I still didn't want to just drag Andrea away from her sister. She needed to mourn, and we needed to respect that no matter what. Loosing a close one is too hard to just deal with right away.

"I'll tell her how it is," my dad said and walked up to them. Once he had bent down to her level to tell her she drew her gun at him. I quickly stood up, worried for my dad. Dad just slowly backed away from the blonde and walked back to us. I looked behind me at mom. She met my gaze but quickly dropped it. I sighed and turned my back against her again. Daryl walked up to us and started talking.

"You can't be serious," he said. "Let that girl hamstring, huh? That dead girl's a time bomb." Daryl had a point, but I was still holding on to my own decision, to let Andrea mourn her sister.

"Then what do you suggest?" I asked the redneck. He turned to me as he answered.

"Take the shot," he simply said straight to me before turning to my dad. "Clean in the brain, from here. Hell, I can get a turkey between the eyes from this distance," he told him and pointed at them while he talked.

"No." mom demanded. "God's sake, let her be," she said and sat back down at the car seat. We all agreed except Daryl, who made a small tsk and walked away from us. I looked back at the small part of the group who were sitting there, but seeing my mom once again ignore me I got angered as well and walked away. I walked over to Glenn, offering to help him. He took my help gladly and we started carrying a dead corpse towards the pile of others. But Glenn saw something behind me that made me stop.

"What?" I asked quietly while looking behind me to see Morales and Daryl dragging one from our groups towards the fire. I dropped the corpse and went forward to them with Glenn. "What are you guys doing?" I asked them but before they answered Glenn talked too.

"This is for geeks. Our people go over there!" he said and pointed at another pile further away with the bodies of our friends from the group.

"What does it matter? They're all infected," Daryl said while still dragging the body towards the fire.

"Daryl, our people go over there!" I said forcefully to the redneck who was now getting slightly on my nerves.

"We don't burn them!" Glenn suddenly yelled, making everyone turn their attention to him. "We bury them. Understand?" he said now more calmly. I put my hand on his back and rubbed soothingly, trying to get him to calm down. This little Korean dude was an emotional one, but he was still right and still my friend. "People go to that row over there," he now said in his normal, calm voice and Daryl and Morales complied and started to drag the man over there, however they stopped once Daryl was beginning to throw a tantrum.

"Ya'll left my brother for dead!" he yelled at all of us. "You had this coming!" he pointed and walked off again. Glenn and I continued working together on the pile of burning walkers but got interrupted once again by Jacqui yelling.

"A walker got him! A walker bit Jim!" she yelled while pacing around on camp. By now everyone from the group was surrounding Jim for him to tell us or show the bite.

"Show it to us!" Daryl demanded. "Show it to us!" Jim tried to get away so he picked up a shovel to protect himself. T-Dog got behind him and held up his arms. Both Daryl and I ran forward and lifted up his shirt to reveal the big bite on his side.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," Jim said over and over again. I dropped the shirt and stepped back. Even after everybody stepped back from him he kept saying that he was okay, but he clearly wasn't.

* * *

We sat Jim down by the end of the RV while the rest of us, except Andrea, debated on what we would do to him and Amy.

"I say we put a pickaxe in his head, and the dead girl's so we'd be done with it," Daryl said in a quieter tone so neither Jim nor Andrea could hear.

"That what you'd want? For you?" I asked in disbelief as I stared at the redneck.

"Yeah and I'd thank you while you did it," he just answered casually. I hardened my eyes at him. This was not the way to do it, just go and kill our friends like they were nothing.

"I'd hate to say it, I never thought I would, but maybe Daryl's right," Dale said to us all.

"Jim's not a monster, Dale. Or some rabid dog," my dad spoke up while looking to the ground in thought.

"I'm not suggesting that-"

"We start down that road, where do we draw the line?" dad interrupted Dale by saying.

"The line's pretty clear," Daryl said. "Zero tolerance for walkers. No more debate."

"What if we could get him help?" I asked and they all stared at me like I was a goat with four heads and two spines.

"How?" Shane asked with a forceful tone.

"I heard the CDC was working on a cure," my dad spoke for me.

"I heard that too, heard a lot of things before the world went to hell," Shane argued.

"Well, what if the CDC is still up and running?" dad asked.

"Yeah, that's a stretch right there."

"Why? If there is any government left or any structure at all they'd protect the CDC at all costs, wouldn't they? I think it's our best shot. Shelter, protection," dad pointed out and I agreed with him. At best they could help Jim and hopefully give us protected shelter.

"Okay, we all want those things, a'right? I do too," Shane argued some more. "Now if they exist they're at the army base, Fort Benning."

"That's a hundred miles in the opposite direction," mom told him.

"That is right, but it's away from the hot zone. Now listen to me, if this place is operational we'll be heavily armed and we'd be safe there," Shane told us all, but it sounded like a fraud. If such a place existed, why hadn't anybody tried to reach out through radio or something? It sounded like a long shot. Longer than the CDC.

"The military was in the front line of this thing, they got overrun. We've all seen that. The CDC is our best choice and Jim's only chance," dad argued some more with his best friend. I looked over at Daryl, seeing him staring at Jim with deadly eyes. I got in high alert, suddenly feeling something bad was about to happen again.

"You go looking for aspirin," Daryl told them and turned back to charge at Jim. "Do what you need to do. As long as someone has some balls to take care of i-" Dad ran up behind him and pulled his gun on Daryl's head. I stood behind pointing with my bow and arrow at him as well.

"We don't. Kill. The living," dad told him and waited for him to drop his pickaxe. Daryl lowered the pickaxe and turned to look at us.

"That's funny, coming from a man who's just put a gun at my head with his daughter right behind with bow and arrow," he muttered and I hardened my stare at him.

"We might disagree on some things, but not on this. You put it down," Shane said calmly behind Daryl, protecting Jim from him. Daryl forced down the axe onto the ground and left while we all lowered our weapons. Dad and Shane went up to talk to Jim. I looked behind me and saw my mom again and figured to bring up something that bothered me. I walked to her and she seemed scared or something when I finally faced her.

"So… What's up?" I asked her casually.

"What do you mean?" she asked in an act of confusion. I furrowed my eyebrows at her.

"What do _you_ mean?!" I asked a bit angered. "You've been pretty much ignoring me ever since last night when Dale asked about my past!" I said angrily but with a hushed tone so no one else would hear us fight. Mom looked down at the ground in slight shame. "Look, mom. I know that things I did as young wasn't the greatest thing to happen to either me or you. But if hell it self can't even make you let it go, then I'm done. Okay? I'm done trying to make it up to you. It feels like it doesn't even matter anymore."

"Honey," mom tried to coo and lifted her hand to caress my cheek but I slapped it away from me. "Alex, I'm trying. But the things you did those years ago still left scars. I just sort of got reminded when Dale asked and didn't want to face it I guess."

"So you choose to ignore me?" I cut her off by saying. She looked at me like I had hit her hard and left her speechless. "I just don't get it. It was _years_ ago. Dad's already forgiving me by the time I graduated. Why can't you?" Once again she was speechless and didn't say a word. I took it harder than I should've, so I just walked off and bumped my shoulder onto hers quite harshly. I walked up to the hill where we had the graves to put our people in. Staring at them I just couldn't hold it in anymore. We lost so many, and now my mom once again hates me. I fell on my knees as I just stared into one of the holes in the ground. This is all they get. A hole in the middle of nowhere. I'm certain that everyone will just forget about our loss tomorrow anyway, but I wouldn't. All those people we've been living together with for weeks and this is our last little goodbye? A freaking hole which we will just eventually forget about!

* * *

After minutes of trying to fight back the tears I heard a gunshot from camp. I had no idea what it was about so I just got up from the ground and tried to look back at the camp. I heard no more commotion, not even someone screaming or yelling. It was quiet and soon dad and Shane got up the hill as well.

"What was that about?" I asked about the shot that were heard. "What if more walkers comes here now?" The both of them were quiet for a while before answering.

"It was Andrea," Shane spoke. "She shot Amy, putting the poor girl out of her misery." I felt my eyes grow wide. They both passed me as they started digging the holes deeper for the people to fit in. I grabbed a shovel that laid on the ground and helped out as well. After a moment of silence or so dad started talking.

"Say it," he tells Shane. I just shift my gaze between the two me multiple times in confusion as they both were once again silent for a moment. Shane started to nod, preparing to talk.

"I'm thinking if you would've stayed here, if you had looked after your own. Instead you took off and took half our man-power with you," Shane told him. I felt awkward staying here and listen to this sort of private conversation, so I just awkwardly started to slowly dig into the ground again. "I'm thinking maybe our losses wouldn't been so bad," Shane added.

"If we hadn't gone off and brought those guns back when we did I think our losses would've been a lot worse," dad argued against his friend. "Maybe the entire camp," he added for dramatic causes. I looked over the hill to see a truck with sacks on backing up to us. It came to a stop and Daryl walked out of the driver side and walked up to us.

"It's a mistake not burning these bodies," he said as he passed Shane. "That's what we said we'd do, right? Burn them all. Wasn't that the idea? China-man gets all emotional, say's it's not the thing to do and we'll just follow him along?" he asks and I drop my shovel to glare at him. That incompetent, heartless, freaking redneck. Did that guy even have any feelings what so ever, except anger? Once he met my eyes he glare back with narrowing eyes. I shook my head and looked behind me to see people walking our way. "These people need to know who the hell's in charge here, what the rules are," he added and for once I agree with him. Honestly we couldn't have everybody running around doing their own thing and possibly put the rest in danger for it. But, I wouldn't exactly want to have a dictatorship either.

"There are no rules," dad answered him.

"That's a problem," mom said, making everyone avert their attention to her except me, who was still freaking pissed. "We haven't had one minute to hold onto our old selves. We need time to mourn and we need to bury our dead. It's what people do," I heard mom talking behind me as I just dug into the ground deeper.

* * *

After a while of getting all the bodies out of the truck and digging a teeny tiny bit deeper into the graves it was time for a small funeral for Amy, Ed and the rest that had passed. Andrea was struggling at the moment of getting Amy down to the grave, and she absolutely didn't want any help from anyone. Once Amy laid down in the ground I looked over at everybody with tearful eyes. Everyone was either already crying or trying to be strong and not let the tears fall, but they still looked bothered and sorrowful. After we had filled the graves with dirt we walked back to camp. I walked behind dad, trying to keep some distance between me and my mother still. Suddenly my family came to a stop and I stop right with them

"Burying others is bad enough, but burying one of us…" dad trailed of.

"Are we safe now, dad? Now that we're together?" Carl's innocent voice said and we all looked at him with concerned eyes as dad crouched down to my brother's level.

"I won't leave again, I promise you that, not for anything," dad promised him and Carl smiled sadly at dad. "Give me a chance to discuss some things with your mom, okay? Go ahead with your sister to camp," dad told him. I reached out my hand for Carl to take as we walked together back to camp. We were silent as we walked, both quite saddened by the whole funeral I guess. When we had gotten to camp Carl immediately went to play with Sophia as I walked into the RV to help out with Jim. He had gotten a terrible fever from the bite and currently Carol was wiping a soaked towel over his forehead, hoping it would help. Not long after my parents got in to see how he was doing.

"His fever is worse," Carol said as she looked back at them.

"You need anything?" mom asked Jim who's response was water. I smiled at him, hoping he would feel a little bit better. Mom told him she would get some for him and asked Carol to help her, barely acknowledging me. Not that I truly cared. I got up from my seat to sit where Carol had been sitting to put a cold soaked towel over his forehead. Dad walked towards us to talk to Jim. Jim sat up a little bit more comfortably as he spoke to my dad.

"Saved a grave for me?" he asked him which made me frown.

"Nobody wants that," dad told him.

"It's not about what you want," said Jim. "That sound you hear is God laughing at you while you make plans." Dad sighed after a moment of silence.

"What I want, Jim, if God allows is to get you some help," dad said calmly and concerned. Jim started to cough all of a sudden, and I knew all too well what was coming next. I grabbed the bucket on the table and held it under his chin as he threw up blood along with his cough. Once he was done I put down the bucket again as he tried to lean back and relax.

"Don't die on me yet, ya hear?" I told him before leaving the RV. Dad had told me afterwards what Jim had said after I left. He was apparently hallucinating or something and asked something about a boat. It was unfortunately not long now until Jim would really feel the transformation. I had seen it before, I was just hoping Jim would get to atleast live another day until we got to the CDC if that's where we were now going. I walked to my tent to pack everything in frustration. I don't know where I got it from. It's just that sometimes I get tantrums out of nowhere. I fell onto my bed, breathing and trying to calm myself down since I was now starting to get a panic attack, which was also common for me to have after a tantrum. As I tried to calm down I had someway down the road fallen asleep.

* * *

As I slept I dreamed a horrible dream where the walkers chased down me and my whole family. Carl, mom and dad ran before me as I tried to protect them by shooting arrows and bullets at the walkers. Suddenly when I turned around to shoot my last arrow I took a slight step back and I fell done in one of the graves that was up the hill. I started to panic, mostly over how I had gotten all the way to the hill so quickly without noticing, but also because I was slightly claustrophobic and had now no idea where my family were. Then I heard familiar voices above me. I looked up to see Dale, dad and Shane holding shovels while the rest of the group surrounded the grave to look down at me. I tried to ask them what was happening, what they were doing, but nothing got through to them. Dale started telling everyone how much they were all gonna miss me. _What do they mean miss me? I was right under their noses, literally!_ After his speech the guys with the shovels started to fill the hole with dirt, ending up burying me alive. Just as I was about to take me last dying breath I woke up by someone poking me.

"Hey," a rough voice said. I opened my eyes and sat up to see Daryl at the opening of my tent with a stick in his hand, still poking me side.

"What are you doing, Dixon?" I asked as I rubbed the back of my head, feeling a slight headache rising. He stopped poking as soon as I had spoken.

"I heard you cryin'. Thought something was wrong, but I'm guessing nightmare?" he asked cautiously as he looked around in my tent, seeing it barely empty.

"Yeah… I'm fine though, so don't poke me again with that stick," I joked and pointed at his stick. Daryl glanced down at it before looking at me again.

"Sorry, didn't know how to wake you without scaring ya," he apologized and offered me a hand to help me up. I took it and stood straight in a second, brushing off the small amount of dirt I had gotten on me. "Your dad and Shane is off checking things out in the forrest, you should come out and have some water. You look pretty dehydrated," he offered and stepped to the side to let me out of the tent. I thanked him and we walked in silence towards the rest of the remaining group. I sat down next to my brother and Daryl soon came up to me again with a mug of water in it. I thanked him once again and he went to check on something else. As I drank the water Shane, my dad and Dale got out of the forrest and headed straight towards us. Shane started to speak as he took a seat where everyone could see him.

"I've uh… I've been thinking about Rick's plan," he said and I watched my dad crouch down right behind me, offering him a smile, then looking back at Shane as he continued speaking. "And look there are no guaranties, either way I'll be the first one to admit that. I've known this man for a long time. I trust his instincts," he said as he looked at dad, then the rest of us as he continued. "I say that the most important thing here is, we need to stay together." There was a small pause, making most of us a bit uncomfortable, before he spoke again. "Those of you who agree; we leave first thing in the morning. Okay?" he finished off as he looked at everyone and nodded a few times. After that everyone pretty much went to rest or sleep until morning, but with the nightmare I had earlier I didn't trust myself enough to sleep. So when dark had come I climbed up the RV, slowly and quietly, to keep lookout. Just something to keep myself occupied.

* * *

In the morning when everyone had woken up and packed everything we were ready to head off. We were all standing around dad and Shane as they told us a few instructions about how to handle the radio and such. Since there was no space in Carol's car I was going to sit in the RV for the 'trip' and hopefully help out if there was any complications with Jim. When Shane had stopped instructed everyone Morales spoke up to all of us.

"We're not going," he spoke for his family. I whipped my head towards him and his family in shock. When it had gotten quiet between everyone a moment or two his wife started to talk.

"We have family in Birmingham. We wanna be with our people," she finished and I looked to the ground with a slight smile. Of course they would much rather wanna be with family. And like Shane said yesterday, we couldn't stop anyone from not coming with us.

"You're on your own you don't have anyone to watch your back," Shane reasoned.

"We'll take the chance. I gotta do what's best for _my_ family," Morales told us as he looked to my dad, quoting him.

"You sure?" dad asked them.

"We've talked about it," Morales answered. "We're sure." They proceeded to give Morales a gun and some ammo for the ride, so they wouldn't be completely unprotected. Then the family thanked us and we all said goodbye to them. Later on we all got into the vehicles to hit the road towards the CDC. The whole ride was bumpy, sort of. Not the road in particular, but Jim's fever was going up and down and sometimes he was even screaming in pain. I tried most of the time just ignoring it, hoping we would get to the CDC in time, but sometimes his yells were so bad they almost made me wanna scream with him.

Not too long down the road I heard a loud bang from the front of the RV and I walked to the front to see what was happening. The hood had smoke coming out of it and we had no other choice but to stop and fix it.

"I told you we'd never get far on that hose," Dale told my dad as they were checking inside the hood. "That's why I needed the one from the cube-van." As they were talking about that hose I was taking in my surroundings. Basically, we were in the middle of nowhere with just woods on each side of the road.

"I see something up ahead," Shane said so everyone would hear us as he looked through his binoculars. He lowers them as he looks to his right. "Gas station if we're lucky," he said.

"Lucky? What to we look like, leprechauns?" I muttered sarcastically as I kicked a small stone around. Shortly after my comment Jacqui rushed out of the RV.

"Y'all, Jim, it's bad," she says in-between breaths. Dad and I share a glance before we turned the focus back to Jacqui as she speaks again. "I don't think he can take anymore," she panted and went back into the RV with me right behind her. We walk in to Jim to check how he's doing.

"You okay, Jim?" I asked him slowly as I wiped his sweating forehead with a towel. He proceeds to nod, but wince horribly at the pain. "Hold on a little long, alright? I'm gonna get you some water," I told him and walked quickly out of the RV to head towards Carol's car to get some water. It wasn't ice-cold, but it had to be enough. When I was about to head back I saw dad walk in, probably to speak to Jim. I ran up to him and went inside together. I opened the bottle up and put it to Jim's mouth so he could drink. When he had gulped down three big sips I set it down at the table and dad started talking.

"We'll be back on the road soon," he said.

"Oh no. Christ. My bones, my bones are like glass: every little bump. God, this ride is killing me. Leave me here: I'm done. Just leave me. I want to be with my family," Jim told us and I looked back at dad and we shared another glance, a glance of worry. I took a deep breath before speaking.

"They're all dead. I don't think you know what you're asking. The fever; you've been delirious more often than not," I said as softly and as cautiously as I could. Jim just stared back at me and shifted his gaze between dad and me.

"I know, don't you think I know? I'm clear now. In five minutes I may not be," he told me, but then looked straight at dad. "Rick, I know what I'm asking: I want this. Leave me here. Now that's on me. Okay? My decision. Not your failure," he said and I felt myself tear up. I quickly excused myself as I walked out. When I walked down the steps I almost tripped and fell forwards, but I held on to the side before my body could hit the ground. I felt dizzy, how? That's one question I couldn't answer. Dad soon came out and saw me almost hyperventilating.

"Hey, you okay?" he said as he put a hand on my shoulder. I wanted to say yes or atleast nod, instead I just shook my head. He put both his hands on each of my arms as he slowly lowered me into a sitting position on the ground. "Just stay here and relax yourself, alright?" he asked and this time I nodded, already feeling the dizziness going away slowly. Everyone from the group then walked up to him and dad explained the situation so all of us could hear. "It's what he says he wants," dad finished it off.

"And he's losid?" Carol asked in disbelief.

"He seems to be," dad answered as he shift on his feet, probably because he didn't want to do it. "I would say, yes."

"Back in the camp, when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down," Dale began and all our attentions went to him. "You misunderstood. I would never go along callously killing a man," the old man said and I looked at the ground with slight guilt, even though I knew what Dale meant back then, I still couldn't help but to feel slightly guilty for not sticking up to him when I knew he was right all along. "I was just gonna suggest that, we ask Jim what he wants," he paused before ending the sentence. "and I think we have an answer."

"We just leave him here? Take off? Man, I'm not sure I could live with that…" Shane said from my left side.

"It's what the man wants," I stated silently, still staring at the ground.

"It's not your call. I've been warning you," mom said from standing across from me. As all of us just basically sat in silence, thinking of what we were actually doing, we finally helped Jim out of the RV and placed him under a tree. As Shane and dad put him down at the tree, all I could think about was how many more? How many more were we going to lose before this was all over? And the only answer coming up was, a lot. Which made my heart ache slightly. I looked back at Jim as he looked up at the sky.

"Hey, another damn tree…" he muttered ironically with a smile at the end, like we had all the time in the world to make a joke right now.

"Jim, I mean you know it don't need to be this?" Shane asked him.

"No… It's good. The breeze feels nice," he told him and I felt myself choke up a bit from not letting myself sob. Shane stood up from his crouching position and backed away a bit so others could speak to him. Jacqui went up and crouched down in front of Jim so she could speak to him.

"Just close your eyes, sweetie," she said soothingly to him. "Don't fight." I didn't know what to do as I just stood by my dad, watching the scene. I couldn't take seeing a friend like this for much longer, so next up was me.

"I'm keeping my promise, bud," I told him, referring to keep my family close for protection. "Nothing's gonna happen to them," I finished off with a goodbye before walking away from the group and letting the tears fall down my tears silently. No sobs would come out as I just tried to calm myself down again. I wiped away the tears as the rest of the group approached, leaving Jim by the tree alone. I took a long and deep breath before getting into the RV again. As we drove away I couldn't help but to stare back at Jim with tears stinging my eyes.

* * *

We had finally driven all the way to the CDC building and I walked out of the RV with Glenn right behind me. I held my bow and arrows ready to attack if anything were to happen, the others had a similar idea as most of them held a weapon ready. When I looked around to take in the environment all I saw was corpses on top of big sack walls along with an abandoned tank outside of the big building. Corpses were everywhere so it stank of rotten and I couldn't help but to feel a bit nauseous, but I kept it down and just kept going. We all walked in a line with dad at the front and me and Daryl at the back, looking for any danger following us. Our weapons were also the most quiet ones we had so everyone thought it was for the best. When we had finally gotten through all the corpses with coughing and gagging we now stood at the front of the building, just praying someone was still in there. Dad and Shane tried to get the shutters to open, but they wouldn't bust. It was almost like they were glued to the ground with cement or something. Suddenly Shane banged his fist at the shutters which made a loud noise, which could probably attract walkers.

"Are you insane?!" I whisper-shouted at him. He only glared at me before turning back to the door.

"There's nobody here," T-Dog said from behind me.

"Then why are the shutters down?" dad argued back. I turned around to keep watch and I saw a walker coming our way. Daryl seemed to have seen it as well.

"Walkers!" we both yelled in unison as we brought up our weapons to kill them. Everyone panicked as they saw it limping towards us. Daryl was the first to shoot at it and the arrows flew right between the eyes. Even though that one was gone I still kept on high alert and looked around to see if anymore were coming.

"You led us to a graveyard!" Daryl yelled at my dad. "It was the wrong damn call!"

"Daryl, calm the hell down!" I yelled back at him as I walked up to him and shoved him back. We just ended up glaring at each other, neither daring to provoke the other much more.

"Rick, this is a dead end," Shane told his best friend as Daryl and I just had our staring contest.

"Where are we gonna go?" Carol pleaded and I finally broke the stare to look what dad now had in mind. Everyone were now pretty much shouting at everyone that dad had now led us to our deaths, but how the hell was he to know? Fort Benning could've been just as bad. After everyone had their little arguments Shane ushered us to get back to the cars. Dad looked up at the doors again and seemed to see something.

"Dad, come on! We gotta go!" I yelled at him as I tried to drag his arm away, but he stood still.

"The camera!" he yelled to everyone. "It moved," he said and everyone stopped running towards the cars. I looked up at what he had seen but saw nothing.

"You imagined it," I told him softly and grabbed his arm again.

"It moved," he argued and yanked his arm away from me as he walked up to the doors and closer to the camera. Shane walked up to him to reason as everyone pretty much stood still, not knowing what the hell we were going to do.

"Rick, even if it did, man. It's an automatic device. Now come on," Shane told my dad and grabbed his arm to lead him away from here. Dad struggled out of his grasp and started screaming at the camera while banging his fist at the shutters as everyone yelled him to stop and come with us.

"I know you're in there!" dad yelled at the camera. "I know you can hear me! Please, we're desperate! Please help us, we have women and children, no food, hardly any gas left! We have nowhere else to go!" he pleaded as mom tried to get him to stop and just walk away, but he wouldn't. He just seemed to know that there was someone in there. More and more walkers got closer to us and everyone was pretty much panicking as I just kept high alert, shooting a few walkers as they got too close. "You're killing us!" dad suddenly yelled at the camera, earning my attention. Both mom and Shane tried to drag him away but he just kept yelling at the camera. "You're killing us! You're killing us!" he yelled over and over again until he gave up and turned to leave with the rest of us. But as he did, the shutters opened and an illuminating light blinded us.

* * *

A/N: This was a long-ass chapter, but I wanted to have almost everything from the episode in this chapter, and the result was this. Hope you enjoyed this and I also want to thank everyone who has followed/favorited/reviewed this story so far! It really means the world to me to have a bunch of people reading what I write, so thank you everyone for that!


	7. Author's Note

Hey guys!

Sorry for not uploading in a while, but I honestly suck at writing on a schedule... I apologize to everyone who are exited about this story and all, but honestly I'm not anymore. So for now, the story will be on hold. I don't know for how long since I'm going through some stuff and I have a major writers block with this story... Once again, I'm sorry, but until I know where I wanna go with this story, it's just not going to happen for a while. So yeah, to clearify, no updates on this story on a while...

However, I'm currently working on another fan fic that I just might upload. If so, it's gonna be a Vampire Diaries story ('cause I've rewatched in again and have come to love certain characters) so that might come up sometime.

Until next time, love you all and again SO SORRY!


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